All Marvel’s Big MCU Phase 4 Reveals on Disney+

The first looks at The Falcon, Hawkeye, and more in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Phase 4 and a key deleted scene from Avengers: Endgame have arrived thanks to Expanding the Universe — a special released exclusively on Disney+. The Expanding the Universe special offered up some big intel from Phase 4 of the MCU as our post-Endgame drought continues. While the wait for Black Widow in May seems like a forever drought without new Marvel content (although a trailer will be coming soon), we have some new images and footage which will give us life until then — so if you don’t have Disney+ yet or you think you might have missed something, we’ve got you covered.

Expanding the Universe seems to aim at taking Disney+ subscribers to 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con and the D23 Expo events. The short documentary/promo ran through upcoming slate of Marvel shows and offered up never before seen looks at character designs for those shows, many of which had not been shown at either of the aforementioned California-live events.

The video above breaks down all of the big reveals packed into Disney+’s Expanding the Universe special.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier offered up looks at Bucky’s new design, looking very American in his red white and blue, along with Sharon Carter as she will return for the first time since Civil War, and Russell Wyatt’s new US Agent, who really looks like David Harbour’s Red Guardian from Black Widow but with American flag colors. Could he be a replacement for Captain America? 

Not in such American colors is the Falcon, who takes on a look more consistent with his classic appearance in comics. It’s a safe bet that this WON’T be his only new costume in the series, seeing as Sam Wilson got the shield from Captain America, and will probably be rocking a much more spangley suit before it’s over.

The first public look at the return of Daniel Bruhl as Baron Zemo, a character he portrayed in Captain America: Civil War, was also released — purple mask and all.

Loki

Loki, a character usually in control of his situations via manipulation or other mischievous means, will see his world flipped upside down by the sound of it. “We’re finally going to see him on his back foot,” executive producer Kevin Wright added. “This his him, being put in a position where he doesn’t have all the answers, and has been thrown a curveball by life.”

Hawkeye

“She’s the new, young mentee that he can train to eventually take over the mantle as Hawkeye, one day,” executive producer Trinh Tran said in Expanding The Universe. While there has been no official casting news for Hawkeye just yet, Hailee Steinfeld is reportedly the front runner for the role of Kate Bishop in the series. The concept art does not reflect as much.

Hawkeye is also taking on a look more like his comic book counterpart. Concept art doesn’t reveal who is playing Kate Bishop but Hawkeye has gotten a lot more purple. Fingers crossed for that mask and cowl — because Kate Bishop is looking awesome, right down to having her sunglasses in one photo, and the best part? They’re bringing Lucky the Pizza Dog from Matt Fraction’s popular comic series!

WandaVision

WandaVision might have dropped a tease of a new pair of twins in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A comic panel spotted in the background of a shot of the producer is from The Vision and Scarlet Witch #4 from 1982. That’s the book where Wanda Maximoff gave birth to twins she conceived with magic, also spawning a whole story with Master Pandemonium and leading to Wanda having a mental breakdown. It might also be teasing an appearance by Doctor Strange in the show, as one panel features the sorcerer supreme holding one of the kids. At San Diego Comc-Con, Marvel Studios chief creative officer Kevin Feige did promise that WandaVision will lead directly to Wanda’s appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

What If…?

The What If…? series is going to take a look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe in animated form if things had panned out differently for some characters.

First, there was a look at what T’Challa — aka Black Panther — might look like as Star-Lord.

Other footage shows what Peggy Carter could look like as Captain Britain and she’s fighting alongside Steve Rogers in a MK1 Iron Man suit. Another episode will explore Captain America as a zombie, a nod to the popular Marvel Zombies comics, and he’s fighting Bucky on a train which is a nod in itself to Captain America: The First Avenger and there’s a nod to the Winter Soldier movie when Bucky catches the shield and throws it back at Cap.

The Plan

Another deleted scene stands very much on its own, making little sense for those trying to fit it into the final product which has been released in theaters and online. In the alternate version of the final battle, all of the Marvel heroes came together to talk with one another as they planned to take on Thanos. Star-Lord, Mantis, Gamora, Nebula, Rocket, Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, The Wasp, Thor, War Machine, Drax, Scarlet Witch, Ronin, Okoye, Hulk, Valkyrie, Doctor Strange, and others were all on hand for the scene.

The scene, which is available on the “Extras” section of Avengers: Endgame‘s home page on the Disney+ app, sees Spider-Man emerging and reuniting with Tony Stark for the first time since he disappeared in Avengers: Infinity War. He quickly meets Pepper Potts before the attention is turned to the Guardians of the Galaxy, lead by a Peter Quill who is surprised to see Gamora alive. When Ronin runs in with the Stark gauntlet which the Hulk used to snap everyone back into existence, the heroes devise a plan to put all of the Infinity Stones in the Quantum Realm where Thanos can’t find them.

While the scene does see Captain America call for help locating the van, it is Bucky who is on a post with a sniper who spots it, calling back to his time in Captain America: The First Avenger. Ultimately, they teamed up with Strange’s ability to open portals as a means to get the gauntlet to the van and charged into battle simultaneously before the scene came to an end.

Katherine Langford

Finally, in the bonus features of Avengers: Endgame, fans of 13 Reasons Why‘s Katherine Langford can see her deleted scene as a grown up Morgan H. Stark saying goodbye to her father Tony and he whispers one last, “I love you 3000.” It is essentially an equivalent to Thanos entering what the directors refer to as “The Way Station” and seeing young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War.

After seeing this deleted scene, we can kind of understand why it was deleted, but who knows — maybe they would’ve punched it up a bit if it were in the movie.

No new intel for She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, or Moon Knight, just a couple of spicy little animated logos to keep us waiting. 

What are you most looking forward to on the Disney+ streaming service? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter.